


Out but not down

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anime, Determination, Female Frisk, Gen, Neutral Ending, Platonic Relationships, Post-Neutral Ending, frisk and papyrus platonically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 23:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5351603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"...If we're not giving up down here... don't give up wherever you are, ok?"<br/>Hearing the voices of your friends again... it fills you with D E T E R M I N A T I O N</p><p>Frisk refused to reset, even if it meant passing up the perfect ending that Flowey promised was possible. However, returning to the surface doesn't mean that she can't still help out her friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out but not down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk's reason for going to Mt. Ebott, and her reason for leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was shocked to discover there are no neutral ending fics
> 
> So I made one.

**Prologue**

 

  
**Frisk, December, age 9**  
The window rattled loudly as a wicked gust of wind battered it. Outside, thick flakes of snow swirled in a mad pattern, victim to the whims of the raging storm. A choked sob rose above the sound of the howling wind. The sound eminated from a small lump buried under the covers of the bottom bed in a bunk bed.

  
A pillow swung down from the top bunk and hit the lump. A small boy jumped to the floor and glared at the lump. "Shut up already!" he yelled. "Just shut up! Everyone else here lost their parents too, but you don't see us crying!"  
The quiet sobbing turned into an all out wail. The boy growled in frustration and wrenched the bedroom door open. "Linda!" the boy called as he stomped out of the room. "Frisk is crying again!"  
Warm light and the sounds of laughter and merriment reach your ears through the open doorway. The smell of freshly baked sugar cookies made your stomach rumble. You clamped your mouth shut and held your breath, trying to hold your tears in. You were trying so very hard to be happy for the holidays, to tell yourself that you should be grateful that you had these strangers to celebrate with. You tried to think of all the things you had now.  
All you could think about were the family who were no longer there. Another sob pushed past your lips.

 

"Frisk?"

  
A woman quietly stepped inside. Linda. You didn't come out from under the cover when she called your name. Undeterred, she sat down next to you and gently peeled the covers back. You wiped your snotty nose on your sleeve and scrubbed your eyes, but it was a wasted effort. More tears welled up.

  
"Matt's in time out. He shouldn't have yelled at you. I want you to know that it.. it's ok to cry about it Frisk. Some day, it won't hurt so much to think about them."  
Linda was wrong. It wasn't ok to cry. Matt got angry when you cried, and things were bad enough without him yelling at you. The other boys looked uncomfortable when you cried, too, and then nobody wanted to play with you.

  
You were tired of crying.

  
You were tired of being lonely.

  
You were tired of Matt being a butt face.

  
**You were determined not to cry anymore.**

  
You took a deep shuddering breath and held it in again. Maybe it was the poor lighting but....Linda looked a little sad.  
"Frisk, some people... they don't want to feel hurt. So they get angry. They try to protect themselves by hurting others around them instead. They push everyone away until the only person left to hate is them-self. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

  
Was she talking about Matt? You were a little confused, but nodded anyway.

  
She smiled and reached out to pat your head.

  
She hesitated. Maybe she worried that she was overstepping her boundaries. Perhaps, for a moment, the thought crossed her mind that Frisk might not appreciate her acting like a mother.  
Whatever her reason, it cut you like a knife. You turned on your side, giving her a cold shoulder. She sat quietly on your bed and you pointedly ignored her.  
"...I'll bring a plate of food up if you're not up to eating dinner with the rest of us."

  
Linda shut the door behind her.

  
The only noise in the room was the howling of the wind.

 

* * *

 

**Frisk, early March, Age 10**

  
Nothing had changed. You stopped crying, and nothing changed. Matt was still a butt face. The other boys, Jeff and lee, still wouldn't play with you. It didn't seem to matter that you turned ten in January, they still said you were a baby. Andrew, Linda's husband, was ok... but Linda didn't like you. She never wanted to hug you, or cuddle with you. Some times it looked like she was going to, but she would always stop.  
You decided it was because she didn't want you.

  
well, if nobody wanted you around, then you wouldn't be around. It wasn't something you thought about. It wasn't something you planned. The thought came to you as you were walking home from school. It was an unseasonably warm day in March. Mt. Ebott loomed ahead of you. You thought.... _'I could just go. Right now.'_

So you did

 

* * *

 

  
**Epilogue**  
**Frisk, Mid March, Age 10**

 

  
"Say... what if I told you... I knew some way to get a better ending? You'll have to load your save file and.. well... it seems like you could have been better friends with Dr. Alphys."

  
A better ending... You looked down at your dust covered hands. Asgore's dust. It had gotten all over you when... when Flowey killed him. You could fix everything. Asgore would live. You could break the barrier and show all your new friends the surface. If you had this kind of power when your parents died...

....then you would never have made it to the underground. You wouldn't have made such wonderful friends. You would never have met Toriel, or gone snail racing with Nabstablook, or danced on stage with Mettaton or done puzzles with Papyrus.  
If you had the power, would you have traded all this for another Christmas with your parents? You thought about the last one you had together... They had gotten you a nintendo DS. It hadn't even been something you wanted. It was such a surprise. You spent the morning on the couch with them and enthusiastically explained the concept of Pokemon.

  
You had been so happy.

Something tickled your cheek. You scrubbed at it with your hand and was surprised to feel it come away wet with a tear. Why were you crying? Remembering last Christmas hadn't made you feel sad or hurt. In fact... it had made you feel... kind of happy.

  
You thought about how everyone's lives down here have been on pause, forced to repeat over and over again at the whims of Flowey. You ached to go back and try again. To strive for a perfect ending. But you had an ending right now and, maybe, some times, that's enough.

  
You turned and took a step into the darkness.

  
"H-hey! Where are you going?"

 

It was time for the underground to move forward. So you did too.

  
"Aren't you going to reset?"

  
You were determined to keep pushing forward.

  
"Oh, I see... You never really cared about them. Death was just too easy. You want them to suffer."

  
Flowey's voice continued to grow more distant.

 

"... Chara?"

  
"... Chara please don't go again."


End file.
